Saturday, December 31, 2011

I don't know if this will help anyone or not,,,,,,or if everyone has figured this out long before me,,,,,

but on the chance that someone else is frustrated beyond belief getting their spellbinders out of the really intricate cuts,,,,,,,I solved this problem.

I love love the pendants and motifs,,but getting the dies out without tearing was causing ME to tear my hair out,,,,,,I ordered the Holly motifs a few days ago, praying they were not tough to get out of the die,,,,,,,

my prayers were not answered. PAIN IN THE NECK.

and I got desperate!

Here's how I solved my problem,,,,,,,

sandwich:

cutting plate
paper
WAX paper
die, cutting side down
cutting plate

send it through,,,,,,,,,turn 90 degrees and/or shim with some card stock and give it another good cut. turn the die over and emboss,,,,,,,

your die will slip out much more easily. I'm not saying you don't have to be careful,,,,,,,but it will be out quickly and much more easily than without wax paper,,,,,,

Good afternoon blogging friends! Today has been such a LAZY day,,,,,,I've been playing with new dies all day and DH has been farming his little farm (farmville) all day,,,,,,,even the dog is lazy as sin today LOL.

BUT at least I have something to show you for it! Today I have TWO cards! (Insert silly dancing banana here!)

I think the first card is my favorite,,,,,,,love the colors of this Prima Madeline paper! to.die.for. Aren't the raspberries and blues so deep and elegant? happy sigh.

I used a ton of spellbinders layers on this card,,,,,,,from the bottom layer up, spellbinders fleur di lis in a hot raspberry mirror card and then TWO layers of Holly motifs, turned at different angles,,,,,,then a smaller motif from that same set,,,,,,,,and then a simple circles large was used to cut out the focal image from this amazing paper.

Frankly, I didn't want to add too much more to the card, all those layers look overdone if I add too much more,,,,so I stuck with a simple double bow in green.

here's a close up look at the layers! Close up you can see the holly of the holly motifs, but when it's all layered, it's much more hidden,,,,,,and I think it's so gorgeous, I just CAN NOT put it away only for Christmas cards!

My second card for the day is similar (can you tell I'm practicing with what layers look good with which diecuts???)

As you can see, this is a much "quieter" card,,,,,,,,light blues, whites and creams, with a bit of sepia for distinction between layers. I used Prima Botanicals on this one. Another gorgeous stack!

from the bottom up,,,,,,,,postage stamps with the center cut out with lacy squares, Nellie Snellen multi frame die round, lily (the two largest dies) , circles large, and finally eyelet pendants for the top piece.

I stamped several of the layers with a stampendous music note background stamp, inked them all in sepia, some lace, a triple butterfly bow and a sentiment, and she's done!

Here's a close up of the layers on this one,,,,,,,

I hope you're having a lovely LAZY holiday weekend! See you next year! And thanks for looking!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Ever have one of THOSE days? Yeah, having one today! I'm still shaking my head,,,,,,Darling son went to work in his car today,,,,,,20 minutes later, he calls because his car broke down. OK, glad Darling husband has the day off,,,,,,,,,so I send DH after DS. Twenty minutes later phone call. DARLING HUSBAND is broken down in MY minivan in the SAME BLEEPING SPOT DS broke down in,,,,,,

seriously,,,,,,,,,this kind of thing just HAPPENS to me GAAH!

Fortunately, none of it is serious or THAT expensive,,,,but SERIOUSLY?? THE SAME DAY? THE SAME LOCATION? AND I do not have a key to husband's car (stupiddddddddd) so he has to take a taxi home. ARe we laughing yet?????? I know I am!

So, of course, I just HAD to make a card with my NEWWWW prima paper. Nothing like a new paper stress buster!

I used Prima Madeline paper and OMG it's drool worthy. I covered the base with this gorgeous rose paper, made a second layer of this beautiful dark pink color,border punching the bottom and cutting through the center with labels 18 to make a window so that the first layer shows through. I took a third paper, and layered floral doily motifs (center cut out with smaller motif) and layered postage stamps over that (center cut out with standard squares large),,,,,,,and my focal point was ready,,,,,

for the spiral flower I hand cut freehand, inked, glittered and shaped with a bone folder. I added a HUGE pearl to the center. Leaf is a prima leaf, stick pin is a simple one of mine that I hand made. I tied a simple triple bow with sheer pink ribbon, added a few sticky pearls and called her finished.

Here's a close up of the focal point:

I really love it. No idea what I'm going to do with it,,,,but I think it's pretty :) That paper is just stunning,,,,,,,,,,nothing like starting out with gorgeous paper to make a pretty card!

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoyed! Have a happy and safe new year if I'm not back before next year! Hopefully the challenges will be up and going after the holiday again, and I'll have some more cards to show you!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Good afternoon! I've had a lovely Thursday doing pretty much nothing except card making, and I wanted to share one with you now.

My youngest daughter will be 20 next week, and she asked for a "beautiful card". I hope this qualifies! I wanted something representative of how much she's grown, what a lovely young lady she's become and how proud I am of her!

The image is called "Dancing Dress" by Tiffany's Doodles. It's so lovely and looks so flowing, I couldn't resist the stamp!

Here's a close up of it!

I printed the image on white card stock, colored it in copics and then fussy cut the dress. I popped it up on pop dots and layered it on my brand new Nellie Snellin "Round Lily" die, using the two largest dies to create this intricate circle that adorns the front of this Z fold card. The paper is DCWV "Preppy Princess" stack. The medallion on the inside of the card is cut with a nesties round large out of the preppy princess papers, popped up on pop dots. Front and inside are both dressed up with pearls. A shiny silver bow (I think pink and silver is so HANNAH!) a sentiment (also cut with Nellie Snellin dies) and it's all ready for Hannah's birthday.

Hannah Rachel, I love you,,,,,,,,,,You've grown up to be a woman any mother would be proud to call her own. Happy Birthday, Baby, Love Mom.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Well, I had PLANNED on only doing one card today,,,,,,,,,but PAMELA over at Freevintagedigistamps.com (button of pointing finger to the right over there) just HAS TO keep posting the most AMAZING free vintage images and FORCING me to make more than one card today.

Yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

I just totally fell in LOVE with this image over at Freevintagedigistamps.com and I HAD TO make this card,,,,,,

paper is again K and Co scraps, lace I bought on EBAY and the 1/4 inch velvet trim I got at Michael's 70% off the other day. I colored the image with copics and antiqued it and all the paper pieces with Archival sepia ink. I then cut the image with scalloped ovals large and layered that onto labels 18, which seems to be one of my new favorites. Button is from my stash of look-alike vintage El-Cheapo brand. The sentiment is Fiskars clear stamps. It's a pretty simple card, and I kept it that way,,,,,i wanted the image and the paper to really shine.

My goodness, the week has gotten away from me! What with holiday celebrations, parties, gift wrapping and baking, I hardly know where the week went!

I hope you had a lovely wee with family and loved ones,,,,I know I did, and Santa was very good to me!

But, I'm finally back after taking the week to spend with my family,,,,,and then cleaning up our holiday mess~! And today, I have a card. This was such a sweet image from I DO NOT KNOW WHERE! I save a TON of vintage images for later use,,,,and I almost ALWAYS save them in a file marked with the poster's site,,,,,,,OR the name of the poster in the file name.

This time I did NOT. Not smart. (Kicking self!)

I searched my favorite sites, and found NOTHING. If you KNOW where I found this image, please let me know so I can give proper credit!

The paper I used for this card is a mixture of scraps,,,K and Company Cut N Paste predominate, but I do see some of my favorite MME Lost and Found paper here too! I cut the image and framed it with Labels 18, backed with TWO lacy ovals, a sweet ribbon, some pearls, some Michael's brand yellow ribbon, a computer generated sentiment and she's done!

Easy peasy, and NO copics!

I hope you have a lovely New Years, and PLEASE be safe! Thanks for looking, and I always appreciate your comments!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Yep,,,big time. The birthday file I made a year or so ago that I thought was brilliant,,,,,,,,

isn't so brilliant if I misfile someone's birthday. Sigh.

Yep,,,,,filed a dear friend under December instead of November. I realized what had happened when I went digging for late December birthdays to make cards for. And found hers. Oh boy.

What's a girl to do???? Except maybe make the prettiest card she can and admit she's a dunce LOL.

So here you have it,,,,,,,yet again, some pretty MME paper (even when I TRY, I can't seem to stay away from it!), a nestie, a "sorry I missed your birthday" stamp. And three of the prettiest flowers I think I've ever made.

I've been playing around with rolled roses for a week or so, trying to get a specific look. And I think I finally got it. I've been asked twice already how to make them (it's so simple, it's ridiculous), so I'll see if I can't get a pictorial up here in the next few days. I wanted Spellbinders "spiral blossoms one", but at least until AFTER the holiday, anything that's 24 bucks is just going to have to wait. And I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out actually. Not sure I even want to spend 24 bucks for that flower now,,,,,,,,not when there's so many other dies I want,,,,,,,hm,,,,,,,

will have to think about that one LOL. Oh, and by the way,,,,,,,those leaves are really my poinsettia die,,,,cut in half LOL. I can't even leave the thing alone for birthday cards!

Hope you enjoyed the post,,,,,,,,,again, have a LOVELY Christmas, Hanukkah or whatever it is that you celebrate! And thanks for looking!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

I have to admit,,,,as much as I love holiday cards of all kinds,,,,,,,I AM SICK OF CHRISTMAS CARDS! LOL, I think I've been making them pretty regularly since AUGUST (and before). So when I opened the Stamptacular challenge (HERE!) , I will admit that I groaned at the thought of one more Christmas card, and I considered not doing the challenge this week. I love challenges,,,,,,but could I squeak out ONE MORE Christmas card? Well, the saving grace was that it was to be a PINK Christmas card,,,so I decided to go for it. What the heck. All mine have been sent out already, but there's always next year!

And so, I chose my favorite pink paper (anyone guess MME??? You'd be right!) and I tried to make the LEAST Christmassy card I could! Some layering and border punching, some frames with nesties, a gorgeous Justrite sentiment , some branch punches, velvet ribbon and a few die cut poinsettias, and she's finished.

Thank God.

LOL! Really,,,,,,I do love Christmas cards,,,,,,I'm just ready for a break! Anyone have a birthday??? Retirement?? Baptism? Bris? ANYTHING???

Merry Christmas!

And a Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends,,,,,,,,,may you grow fat on latkes and jelly donuts!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Good afternoon! I hope everyone else has gotten more accomplished today than I have. I have been LAZY! Husband is working, and I have done nothing but lounge in bed and take pics for my blog LOL.

Whatever you're doing today, I do hope you have a bit of time to relax in this crazy last week before the holidays!

It's time again for the new Sugar Creek Hollow challenge! YAY! the theme this week is THANK YOU. They want to see our thank you cards, and you can find that challenge HERE!

Well, it just so happens, I have a lovely reason for a thank you card. My MIL sent us all some money for the holidays,,,,,,how sweet! I think I am going to spend mine on several sets of nesties and dies!

So, onto the card I'm sending my MIL. This is an adorable image from a new site I happened to run across yesterday,,,,awesome site! You can find the button on my side bar (Pointing finger), but the name of it is freevintagedigistamps.com. FANTASTIC SITE! I took this darling school girl and cropped out the ABC that was above her,,,,,I pulled her into Picnik and added a THANK YOU to the bottom and printed her in sepia. I then colored her with copics. I wasn't too worried about blending, because I wanted the old 50's children's book illustration look. Plus, I was going to be toning all the colors down by tapping sepia ink onto the colored image with a sponge, so blending wouldn't show as well anyhow. I layered on the MME paper (Market Street) using the sketch over at the MME blog here! A bit of lace, some stickles, pearls, hand died seam binding in this GORGEOUS peachy pink, a bit of border punching, a stick pin and TONS of inking, and she's done! Isn't she adorable????

Do go have a look at the two challenges here,,,,,the Sugar Creek Hollow and the MME challenge. But HURRY on the MME, it's got less than a day left!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed! I hope you have a lovely last day of the weekend!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Just ONE more entry into the sugar creek hollow challenge LOL. This time I thought I'd ATTEMPT a bit more of a primitive style. Not sure I succeeded,,,,,but I tried LOL. Again, you can find this challenge HERE!

I cut this shape on my cricut, using my gypsy out of kraft paper and then border punched strips of scrap paper, layering them onto the base. I inked everything, stamped the tops and bottoms with a music note background stamp.

I collected some dried twigs in my yard and heat embossed them with just a bit of gold,,,,,and then I collected some Holly (the kind that had the LEAST pricklies!) from my back yard,,,,,tied tiny bundles of the real holly and the sticks,,,,,,,tied on some baker's twine, a jingle bell and a bit of bling,,,,,,and VOILA.

These probably won't last til next year unless the holly dries SUPERBLY. But it was fun to use as long as I have a ton in my yard!

I tell you what though,,,I have tiny scratches all over my hands from collecting the holly and cutting off the prickers.

Yay, it's the weekend almost! Although my poor husband is working 10 hours both saturday and sunday,,,,,,,and I need to finish shopping. Hanukkah starts Tuesday and Christmas is just around the corner. I hope you all are further along than I am!

Well, I just had to go for a second try with Sugar Creek Hollow. I am addicted to that challenge, I tell you!!!!! Love it!

I've created a foursome of tags that can be used for ornaments when the gifts are opened (I HATE the idea of them being tossed away!). I cut the shape on my cricut using my gypsy, once out of kraft and a smaller size out of that same gorgeous MME paper I used for a card yesterday. It's DELICIOUS!

I then used nesties to cut out a window and placed vintage christmas images behind. Check out all the freebies over at the Graphics Fairy, button to the right. Tons of inking, some bling and pearls, a jingle bell and a pretty satin ribbon, gold embossed Holly leaves, and they are all set to go.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I just love this paper!!!! It screamed at me from the shelf of Hobby Lobby "BUY ME! BUY ME!"

A girl can't refuse after being screamed at, now can she?

It's MME and it's STUNNING! I left the card rather clean and simple, except for a bow, just because the paper was SO gorgeous~! I stamped in black onyx ink and ATTEMPTED a double frame,,,a few pearls, a stick pin and my Happy Everything kit, and this card is a go for a friend's birthday! I hope she likes it.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Afternoon AGAIN everyone :) I spent the afternoon blog hopping. Love blog hopping! And I saw the most elegant gorgeous card on my friend Renee's blog. You can see her elegant card HERE!

It was so lovely, I had to give it a go! And voila! My not so clean and simple CASE of her card. It's not a complete "steal",,,,,but I was definitely strongly influenced by her card, and therefore, I'm giving her credit for it.

I don't have the embossing folder nor the dies she used,,,,NOR the stamp she used,,,but I wanted to have a similar feel. I poured on a bit more than she, but still,,,,,I like it :)

We don't get many blizzards here in Central Florida in the Tampa Bay area,,,,,,,butttttt I do remember a few from living in Massachusetts LOL. This week over at Sassy Cheryyl's they are having a white out!!!!

A white on white BLIZZARD that is!!!! The challenge is HERE! and so much fun! I love white on white,,,,so elegant and pretty!

Normally, when doing challenges, I try and use the images of the challengers, if possible. However, my computer wasn't allowing me to print a Sassy Cheryl image (or any image for that matter), and I already had this little number colored, and thought it would look stunning on a white card,,,,,,,,so on he went. You can get this little cutie FREE at Sliekje's blog HERE!

Do you see how impatient I am? LOL. But I just LOVE white on white challenges!!!! I started by embossing half my 5x7 card with Tim Holtz snow flurries embossing folder, and half with a cuttlebug folder for a bit of a fancy start. Then I created the center medallion starting with lacey ovals, contemporary hearts pendant, postage stamps (I cut out the middle with standard squares large) and then nested Floral doily motifs into the center of that,,,,,,,then I cut more contemporary hearts pendants and another floral doily motifs to top that off. I then cut more floral doily motifs for attaching to the sides. I'm pretty happy with it!

I used some sparkly white chipboard snow flakes, a white organdy bow and topped the whole thing with a frenzy of white pearls.

I colored the little guy with copics, of course,,,,,

and I truly like it!

So go on over to Cheryl's place (link above) and try your hand at a white on white card!

Thanks for looking, and I love your comments! They are so appreciated!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Well, it's that time again, time for the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge,,,one of my very favorites that I find myself going back to again and again. I had the honor of winning card of the week last week, and I'm THRILLED.

This week's challenge is TAGS. They can be stand alone, or attached to a project. Well, My oldest daughter is hosting the Christmas dinner this year, so I wanted to make a little something for favors to put on the dinner plates for all the adults (Children will have more cutesy images on theirs, I haven't made them yet!). And this challenge gave me just the right idea!

These are little tulle "bags" I constructed simply by cutting roughly an 8 inch square of tulle (red and antique gold), putting some small candies and snow flake confetti inside, and gathering them up at the top. I've tied them with dark red satin ribbon and bright shiny gold ribbon, attaching a santa tag to the ribbon and then tying in a simple bow.

I made the tags by stamping the two vintage Santas (Crafty Secrets) in sepia ink onto white card stock, cutting them out with classic ovals large and classic circles large, and then antiquing with sepia ink, really inking the edges well. I then embellished with a few rhinestones that I colored red with my R39 copic marker. For the backs of the tags, I cut burgundy poinsettias with my maryanne die, creating leaves out of the same die, just switching the paper to green, and glued them to the backs, just peaking out the front. I then embossed the poinsettias with a bit of sparkly gold.

Easy peasy,,,,,and when the candy is gone, the tag makes a lovely christmas ornament.

It couldn't be simpler,,,,,and I love the effect.

So if you're looking for a simply elegant christmas stocking stuffer or favor, these couldn't be easier! They whip up in no time, and the sparkling gold of the ribbon and the embossing powder is an amazing effect.

Here's the link to the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge! Come on by and try your hand at some tags! You might win a prize! And you know you need them anyway! Might as well have a chance for a prize for them!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Boy, do I have some photos for show me Thursday this week!!!! We've spent the weekend amidst workers, noise, banging, saws at 9am on a saturday morning (the neighbors are not happy!) But it had to be done,,,,,the floor in our smallest bathroom was really starting to get dangerous,,,,,,,,so we had to rip out the floor, replace that and replace the tub, vanity, mirror and toilet,,,,,,,and here are the pics of the progression. We still have to paint, and DH the electrician still has some outlet covers to change out to updated covers,,,,,it's come along nicely, and looks SO much better! Painting, I think, will happen next weekend,,,,,,,and my daughter can NOT wait,,,,,,

she has to wait 24 hours for the caulking to dry before she can even take a shower, and that's killing her as it is! She picked some lovely colors too! Aqua and beige,,,,,,as you can see, the floor also needs a matching rug LOL, the old one is purple, and doesn't match,,,,,,so we have to go shopping for some new things,,,,,we did find a pretty shower curtain she fell in love with,,,,,,but after painting, we'll put down a new rug, and some towel holders, etc.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

The beast is the current state of my bathroom,,,,,E gads, it's disgusting! The previous owners had let the tub leak for months, and it created issues with the floor. they "fixed" the problem poorly, and it was a YEAR before we figured it out,,,we haven't used the tub in over a year, so it's going to be WONDERFUL to get a brand new bathroom,,,,,,,,until then,,,,THIS is my view LOL. As you can see, they are in the midst of tearing the flooring out,,,

In addition to this disgusting disaster, I have a card today that I finished last night (no WAY I'll be scrapping today with power tools and bath tubs tromping through my livingroom,,,,,

It's my mother's birthday in less than a week, so I need to get this baby in the mail. I'll also be entering this into the Penny Black and More challenge HERE! for a happy birthday card. In this challenge, you may use any stamp you'd like, but NO digi images.

I've used a fiskar's sentiment stamp from the Happy Birthday kit, and stamped it onto MME paper with versafine black onyx ink. some matting, a few gorgeous flowers made with my Create a Rose die out of this stunning MME paper (aren't you all glad it's NOT a poinsettia? LOL), a bow, some ribbon and a fancy corner embelly and it's' DONE. I hope my mother likes it,,,,

Friday, December 9, 2011

Hello again, bloggy friends! I've had a bit of a lazy day because I'm having a great deal of difficulty with my back today,,,,,anyone with back problems knows what I'm talking about,,,,sooooo,,,,,might as well scrap the day away if I can't do anything MUCH more thrilling,,,,you know,,,like clean the bathrooms or dust the ceiling fans! LOL.

And since I want to make sure any immediate challenges are handled before they rip my bathroom apart and trudge through my living room and scrappy room lugging huge bathtubs,,,,,I'm here with my Party Time Tuesday challenge entry.

Since one of the sponsors for December is My Mind's Eye, and I just HAPPEN to have two new MME paper packs,,,,,,I thought I'd make mine out of MME paper. It's a tough job bur someone has to do it. Yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

The theme of this fantabulous challenge for this week is "Holiday Greetings". They want us to make a card or project with a holiday greeting as the focus. Anything that lets me play with MME paper is my pleasure!

And so onto my card. I've used MME Madison Avenue and Market Street from the Lost and Found collection to make my card. They are super yummy, and I couldn't resist.

I've used a Just Rite sentiment as the focus of my card, from the Justrite Christmas nested sentiments, and I've stamped it on this gorgeous olivy green MME paper and made a frame of sorts with spellbinders Labels1.

a bit of ribbon, another poinsettia (geez, are you getting sick of them yet???), some holly cut on my cricut, some berries and a tiny bit of bling, and it's done. I love it,,,,,,

but since when have I disliked anything with MME paper on it? ummmmm yeah, not happening!

So if you need to do any last minute cards, run right over to Party Time Tuesdays and enter the challenge! You might win a prize!!! Here's the link to make it extra easy for you!!!

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed! Your comments mean the world to me!

Good morning and happy friday to you all!!!!! Finishing up my challenges here so that I can get them out of the way before the weekend (hopefully!)

There is an AWESOME challenge over at the My Minds Eye blog that you MUST ENTER if you love MME paper as much as I do! You can find the challenge HERE!

The prize is an ENTIRE COLLECTION of the winner's choice!!!! I'd die and go to heaven!!!! Some stiff competition, though, so I did my best work,,,,,,and I'll keep my fingers crossed LOL.

So this card is almost entirely created out of MME Union Square paper,,,,,the very LAST bit of it I have,,,,,LOVED this paper! Following the sketch over on the blog, I have diecut the gorgeous Eifel Tower out of the Union Square paper, stamped a sentiment from Justrite near it and then layered it in black,,,,,,I cut them both with labels 4. I have then diecut two poinsettias out of MME paper from Union Square to place on either side of the eifel tower diecut. A couple of delicious layers with this paper, some border punching, TONS of inking with sepia ink (my FAVORITE!), a bow, some pearl pins and some bling, and it's done! I love love LOVE this card,,,,,,,it's Christmassy,,,,,but not overdone! My biggest problem,,,,,who to give it to? LOL, I might just save it and frame it, I love this paper so much! I'm just sorry it's gone :(

Not to worry though,,,,,I picked up two more pads of MME paper (Madison Ave and Market St) at HL, so I'm sure you'll be seeing more gorgeous MME paper on my cards,,,,,

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Good afternoon,,,,,,,Hope you all are looking forward to a nice weekend. I'm going to have half my house torn apart,,,,,,we're putting in a new bathroom. Currently, I have a vanity, sink, toilet etc sitting in my living room in boxes. Good thing I have a huge living room. And good thing they are bringing the tub/shower when the workmen actually come to do it LOL.

Seeing as how I'm not sure how much I'll be able to scrap this weekend, I decided to go ahead and do my challenge entries this week.

And this week, over at Sassy Cheryl's challenge blog, the theme is SANTA. And boy does Cheryl have some darling santa's to use!

Isn't this one just DARLING? I loved it the minute I set eyes on it, and I had to have it. I tried various paper, and it just didn't seem to go right with the colors I chose,,,so I ended up falling back on plain white cs. I love love LOVE red and lacy white together, so I border punched the three layers each with a different border,,,,,then I die cut some spellbinders lacy motifs which I arranged around Santa to simulate snow flakes. I stamped a Just Rite stamp in the middle of one of the flakes, tied on a bow, a bit of bling, and it's finished! Of course, Santa is colored in copics.

Santa is called "Half Moon Santa" and you can find him HERE at Sassy Cheryl's digi shop!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

But I mean, really,,,,,,,,,,WHO doesn't love a chance to win a prize? I know that challenges bring out the best in me, I love having a theme, or a color or a sketch to get my creativity flowing,,,,,,so exactly WHO doesn't like challenges? LOL.

So today, I have a very vintage card with a GORGEOUS Victorian santa that I just could NOT pass up,,,,,I got him at The Graphics Fairy (button to the right), and I just HAD to make a card with him. I loved the turquoise blue in his outfit, so I paired him with some Recollections paper that was turqoise/Aqua, and some that had some gold shimmers. I cut out the key, key hole and flourish on my cricut out of brown paper, then I heat embossed this gorgeous sparkly gold glitter embossing powder, purposely missing some spots so that it would look even more vintage and old. I cut the poinsettia out with my Maryanne die (of course!), and I stamped a Tim Holtz Believe stamp and a crafty Secrets post mark with sepia ink. I then inked EVERYTHING with the archival sepia ink, to really antique it (I love this stuff! I think it does a better job antiquing than even Tim Holtz distress inks!) Finally, I wound some thin strips of paper around a pencil to create the curly q's, and added a gold corner embellishment, and I called him done,,,,,,,not even a RIBBON! So easy, really!

I love him,,,,,,and I'm entering him into the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge this week, which has the theme of "Non-traditional Colors". It's my second entry to that challenge, and needless to say, it's a fantastic challenge that I find myself going back to week after week!!! You can find that challenge HERE!

I'll also be entering him into a challenge I've never tried before! I'm always on the look out for new challenges, sometimes I try them once, and sometimes I'm hooked! But this one sounds like a ton of fun,,,,,It's the Mami Doodles challenge and you can find this challenge HERE!

And finally, one more challenge for this santa! I'd like to enter him into the Simon says stamp challenge HERE! There's a gorgeous photo montage this week for inspiration, so pop on over!

I hope you all have a lovely week,,,,,,,,,it's ALMOST OVER!!!! And stop by and try a few challenges,,,,,you might just get hooked!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Who wants a chance to win a free Sassy Cheryl digi, just for doing,,,,,,,what you are doing!

It's not like it's a ton of work,,,,,,,all you have to do is post what you're doing,,,,it doesn't have to be crafty!!!!

and today, mine is NOT crafty,,,,,,I wish it was,,

well, it sort of is,,,,,,,

THIS is my desk at the moment. Yeah,,,,,,,,,what a disaster! Believe it or not, I actually CREATE here LOL. I usually clean when I'm forced to,,,,,,,,like when I can't find a thing I'm looking for,,,,,,,which is where we are this morning LOL. And so my job today,,,,,,,,is to clean this disaster.

soo wish me luck, and if you don't hear from me by Christmas,,,,,,,please send in the National Guard!!!!!!!!!!!!

But whatever you do,,,,,,,,go post what you're doing and maybe you'll win a free digi!!!!!!! Here's the link!

Monday, December 5, 2011

I don't know about you, but if you're anything like me,,,,you give a ton of gift cards at the holidays. Frankly, my kids and grands (especially the boys) love video games,,,,but I never buy them because unless they tell me specifically which ones they want, I'm at a loss,,,,,,,not to mention they have so many game systems, I never know WHICH game system to buy for! And the girls? who KNOWS what style shirt they want??? So I give either American Express gift cards,,,,or Game Stop gift cards,,,or one of a million clothing store gift cards coming out the wahoo.

So I'm ALWAYS looking for new, creative, EASY ways to present them that's a bit more personal than just a gift card. And I tell you what,,this one's a keeper!

I totally STOLE this idea from my friend Melissa. You can find her gorgeous creations HERE! She used this tutorial over at Two Peas here!

And they're ADORABLEEEEE. But I quickly found out that although they're EASY,,they are time consuming. Unless you can get an SVG file and your cutter will cut it, you're pretty much cutting them by HAND because of the curves on them. If I'm making one or two,,,,no problem,,,,,,,,but I need DOZENS of gift card holders for the holidays,,,,,,,

so I put on my thinking cap,,,,and I adjusted this little recipe to my own needs.

I just made square cards,,,,,,,

I used my trimmer to cut a piece of 8.5x11 kraft cs down to a 7 and 1/4 by 41/2 rectangle for my base (this is the same size the cards in the Two Peas tutorial are,,,,i just didn't bother with the curves on the flaps.) I got two out of each piece of paper. Then I cut 2 flaps, 1 at at 2 1/2 X 4 1/4 and the second at 1 1/2 X 4 1/4 out of patterned paper. Again with my trimmer, and simple rectangles.

I scored the Kraft base at 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 (the same place the two peas tut scores), folded on the score lines, ommitted the brads (I HATE brads!), and secured the smaller flap with ATG on the sides only. I glued the smaller patterned paper pieces to the flaps, and I was done,,,,,,,

almost.

I sat looking at the gift card holders thinking that a corner book mark would sit nicely on that corner,,,,,and so I made some! Really, there are tutorials all over split coast stampers and youtube for these, they are ridiculously easy to make.

And so I made some corner book marks and sat them on the corners of the gift card holder,,,,it serves to hold them closed as well, so no closure needed! A nice poinsettia,,,,,or a diecut or a bow on the bookmark, and it's decorated too! The recipient can remove the book mark, then open the gift card,,,,and they will have a decorated book mark to keep as well as the gift card. Easy Peasy, I tell you,,,,,

So in my pics today, you'll see 3 photos,,,,,one is the gift cards I totally CASE'd from Melissa,,,,,one is the square ones I adjusted from her recipe to make them faster and easier to make,,,,,and the other shows the book mark removed so you can see it.

Quick, fast, easy and fun!!!!! Hope you enjoyed, and thanks to Melissa for the awesome ideas!!!!!

Oh,,,,,and for the record,,,,,,my daughter told me all the JUNK in my photos made it look more like Mardi Gras than Christmas,,,,,,,

Good morning, everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Mine was full of shopping for a new vanity, medicine cabinet/mirror and toilet for our guest bath that we are re-doing next weekend. Everyone OOOOOOOOOO. Everyone Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. See how jealous you are? LOL, actually, we got a trip to Disney in but it was really crowded so we came home early. I also got a bit of scrappy shopping in to replenish some supplies, and a bit of card making in, so I shouldn't complain!

I have two cards to share today for a challenge.I got this image on The Graphics Fairy (button to the right) and I just love it! Well, the challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow this week is "Non traditional Christmas colors,,,,,,and the challenge at Stamptacular Sunday is blue, brown or black, tan/beige and very limited on the white. You can use any shade of those colors, just limit on the white please. So I whipped up the brown and blue card to enter into these challenges. I then whipped up the blue and tan card because it's just as easy to make two cards as one with the same supplies. I wasn't in love with the blue, but this morning, I am wavering LOL. Who knows what will strike our fancy?

First for the challenge entry card,,,,,,,You can find the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge HERE! It's so much fun,,,,I love vintage! Come on over and give it a try!

You can find the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge HERE! you must use a stamp on the Stamptacular Sunday challenge, and I've used Justrite nested Christmas sentiments on this one. Isn't that such a lovely sentiment? and the fonts are always delicious on Just Rite stamps! I've cut them out with nesties,,,,,,lacy ovals for the blue card and labels 4 for the blue and brown card.

I used my poor neglected cricut quite a bit for these two cards,,,,which really makes me happy since I spent so much money over the years,,,,I found a gorgeous corner embellishement on my gypsy that I have spent good money BUYING in sticker form when I can just CUT ONE, for goodness sake,,,,,I did NOT tell my husband this! LOL.

On the challenge card (brown, blue and cream/tan card) I've printed the image on Kraft paper for a really vintage look, cut fancy corner embellishments and a fancy christmas ornament out of brown, some flourishes out of kraft,,,,,,and then I used my Big Shot to cut two poinsettias with my Maryanne Designs die which I LOVE,,,,,,did you guess?? LOL. My snowflake is a combo of brown, kraft and tan papers and cut with both the cricut and the big shot.

Again, I'm entering this card into both challenges.

Now onto the blue card,,,,,I cut a fancy square doily and the flourishes out of cream paper, and again the poinsettias out of the maryanne die and the snowflake is a combo of cricut cuts and big shot cuts (sizzlet snowflakes).

In both cases, I really think the sentiment just is so elegant, and I think I really love them both!

I do love taking the same stamp and/or the same image and making them very different,,,,,,it's kind of a challenge to myself!

I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for looking! I hope to be back later today with a short post and an easy, adorable gift card holder!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Good afternooon! It's THURSDAY and it's almost over! One more day til the weekend! I have been having so much fun this week making cards, my mojo has really been in high gear,,,I feel badly dumping all these on you, but the more I make, the better I get, so on to the blog they go :)

I have today a card made with the absolutely DARLING image "Snow Day" by Mo Manning,,,,she had it up for 24 hours as a freebie, and I managed to snag it! (then I bought another one LOL, go figure! Oh well, 2 for the price of one, right??)

I colored her with copics, and used a TON of bling and glitter paper,,,,,,,she's really pretty!!!! I also used my nesties AND my new Marianne Creatables straight edge poinsettias that I had to order all the way from Great Britain,,,,fortunately, they didn't take 3 weeks to get here, but that was the LONGEST 12 days of my LIFE LOL. I wanted them badly!

I stamped some snowflakes in silver, because I wanted them to be very subtle, and I think they are,,,,i wonder if you can even SEE them LOL. The sentiment is a JustRite Christmas nested sentiments,,,,I love them, the fonts are always SO gorgeous!

I'm going to enter her in Mo's Thursday challenge, the theme of which is THE GREAT OUTDOORS, and you can find that HERE! She certainly LOOKS like she's having fun in the great outdoors!

I'm also going to enter her in the Stamtacular Sunday challenge. The theme is ANYTHING CHRISTMAS, and she's certainly very christmassy with her gorgeous sparkly poinsettia. It reminds me of how us children would rush outside on Christmas morning if there was fresh snow,,,,,then we'd run back in to open our stockings by the fire place! Who doesn't think Christmas when they see snow?

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Good morning! What a fabulous combination,,,,a sassy cheryl image and Party time tuesdays!!!

Today I have another card entry for Party Time Tuesday! They are allowing two entries per person, so I am going to take full advantage of that and post another card. You can find their challenge HERE! It's so much fun, you really should stop by,,,,

Yes, more MME Union Square paper LOL. I'm down to using up scraps of my favorite pieces, AND I wanted to practice my copics with red and black,,,,,,,two tough colors,,,,,,red bleeds A LOT and black is really shades of gray and very little (if any) actual BLACK. The Union Square paper was perfect for practicing. I did a bit better,,,,,,but I'd still like to improve my copic coloring, so practice makes perfect, as they say!

I've used Sassy Cheryl's "Flat Bottom Snowy" again, because it's so darned cute, I just can't stand it. You can find him here!

I've colored him with copics, added some sizzix snow flakes, a Just Rite 2inch square stamp, and a ton of bling.

I'll also be entering him into Sassy Cheryl's SHOW ME THURSDAY that you can find here! You don't HAVE to use a Sassy Cheryl image, in fact, you don't even have to show a crafty project,,,just show what you've been doing! However, when I use Cheryl's adorable images, I like to show her what I've been doing with them. So I hope she likes what I've done with Snowy!

To that end, I'm also going to enter him into the Sassy Cheryl challenge of WINTER this week,,,,nothing says WINTER more than a snowman! You can find this wonderful challenge HERE!

Have a wonderful Happy-Happy-Hump-Day, and I hope the rest of your week goes well!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Hello!! I hope your week is going well so far. I have another card to share,,,,,,I'm sure I'll get back to doing some last minute Christmas cards, but I'm just feeling "Valentines Day" this week, I guess :)

And, I am LOVING my little 6x6 stack of MME Lost and Found Union Square paper! so many of the papers lend themselves to V-day, maybe that's why I'm in that mood :)

I'm using this ADORABLE image from Sliekje today,,,,,and best of all, ALL her digis are FREE! and she has SO many cute ones! So pop on over HERE to get some darling digi stamps for free!

I've colored the darling birds with copics, matted some Union Station paper, some pearls a stick pin and a bow, a fancy corner embellishment, and I LOVE how this turned out,,,,,,I love red and black together to begin with, but the addition of the beige and a touch of gold really makes it pop, I think. And it's all ready for one of my daughters for V-day!

AND it's all ready for the Party Time Tuesday challenge of ANYTHING GOES this week! You can find this incredibly super fun challenge HERE! Get moving and hurry up because they have some SUPER prizes from FABULOUS sponsors this week!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Ok, so I'm a bit early LOL,,,but I've made about as many Christmas cards as I can stand to make (although I'm sure I'll make more later LOL) and I wanted to get a jump start on my Valentines Day cards,,,,,,

This is for the fantastic challenge over at Sugar Creek Hollow,,,,I was SO annoyed to realize that I'd MISSED the last challenge,,,The holiday week had me pretty busy, and I just didn't have time :(

So I made a special effort to join this time, because I truly LOVE this challenge,,,,,,

The theme for this challenge is "Fancy Folds" and you can find this fun challenge right here!.

I decided to use a vintage image that I got on the Graphics Fairy (button on side bar), the Lost and Found Union Square paper (LOVELY reds in this stack!) to make this little candy bar wrapper. It holds a king size hershey bar, and it's so cute,,,,,you just pull the ribbon, and out comes the candy bar! I've attached a little Valentines ticket inside that says FOR YOU, a bit of lace, dicut out of the Union Station paper, and it's finished,easy peasy!. I'm SURE I can find someone to give this little card to!

Good morning! Hope everyone is well rested after the long holiday weekend,,,,,,sometimes it's more exhausting to have time OFF than to go to work!

Today I have a pink Christmas card,,,,I'm pretty much done with my christmas cards, and I'm about sick of green and red LOL,,,

so I thought I'd make this little card for my daughter who ADORES pink.

The image is a freebie from the very generous and talented Elizabeth Dulemba and you can find that here!

I;ve colored it with copics and used some nesties to cut out the image and some snow flakes,,,,,,,a bit of white pleated ribbon, some white sheer ribbon for a bow, a stick pin, and it's such an easy card!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

This is my second post for the day,,,,,,,scroll down for the first one :)

I hope you're enjoying these cards, I know I've had so much fun making them,,,,

This is a GORGEOUS Mo Manning stamp called "Sarah at Hanukkah", one of my very favs! It so reminds me of my little granddaughter when we light the menorah! I made it for her, and then liked it so much I made a couple more for friends celebrating Hanukkah,,,,

the paper is some stash paper I used a year or so ago,,,,,,the sentiment is computer generated,,,,,,,and the stamp, of course, is Mo Manning,,,,,,you can find Sarah Here!

a bit of lace for a bow, a prima, stick pin, doily and of course, I colored her with copics,,,,,and she's finished!

Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for looking,,,,,,,,,NO CHALLENGES this time Faint.

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About Me

The first thing you'll notice about me is that I have no comma sense,,,,,,none. See??
I am 48 years old and married to a wonderful man for 29 years. We have 3 children and 2 incredible grand children.
I am mainly a card maker, although I occasionally create minibooks and scrapbook pages. But I just LOVE cards.
Creativity is a reflection of our joy.
I hope this blog inspires you to create, in whatever way reflects your joy.